In the second game of Thursday's opening round of the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, the Drake Bulldogs will try to stave off an upset attempt by the Bradley Braves in St. Louis.

Drake was part of the big logjam in the middle of the MVC, finish at an even .500 in conference play. After a somewhat complicated series of tiebreakers, though, the Bulldogs were given the No. 7 seed in the MVC Tournament and forced to play in the first-round -- essentially a play-in game.

Drake's first-round opponent, Bradley, was the MVC's favorite punching bag this season, finishing with just two conference wins and an overall record of 7-24. The Braves haven't won since Feb. 8 and finished a whopping 14 games off the pace of MVC regular season champion Wichita State in the final standings.

The winner of Thursday's matchup moves on to face No. 2 seed Creighton on Friday in the second round of the MVC Tournament.

Location: Scottrade Center - St. Louis, MO

Time: 9:35 p.m. EST

TV: FSN-MW, IN, KC, CSN-CHI

Odds: Drake by 7.5

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